13 months

Notice the new set up for her monthly picture--a little more informal. And Lily's new chair, that she loves and loves to use it as stepping stool to get into things.

Another month for the history books. Parenting a toddler is so much different than a baby. It's a lot less watching and a lot more doing. Once she hits the hay between 7:30 and 8 I hit the couch to decompress for a little while. It makes keeping the house picked up during the week very challenging.

Lily often seems more like a typical little boy than the typical little girl. She's not very dainty, although sometimes she'll grab the ends of a dress she's wearing and turn side to side a mix between a curtsy and a twirl. Until she pulls her dress up over her face to play peekaboo. She's a climber. She's a sneak. She's a jumper and a tumbler. She's wild in the pool and bathtub. She throws her body as wildly as she can and splashes. But at least she doesn't mind getting her face wet. She's starting swimming lessons in about 2 weeks and I know she's going to love it.

We can also see glimpses of what Lily will be like as a teenager. Even now, she talks all.the.time. Never stops. Most of it isn't words yet but she's always talking, talking, talking. In fact, silence is a pretty good indicator that she's either sleeping or getting into something, usually getting into something. She's also beginning to try and repeat what we're saying to practice talking. A few days ago she was stepping up onto a box and then down, we'd say "up" and "down" as she stepped up and down. After a few times she started saying it with us. Another day I was talking to her about how she was happy that day and she was trying to say happy with me ("hap-e").

Milestones
-Wears 18 months, 24 months or 2T clothes. She wears smaller sizes in pants and larger sizes in t-shirts and onesies. She's very long-waisted.
-Wears a size 5.5 shoe. She got her first pair of real shoes this month a Stride Rite. They measured her little foot and she tested them on in the store. Hot pink of course!
-Wears a size 5 diaper. We're considering adding some cloth diapers in while we're at home. We're feeling the guilt of the cases and cases of diapers we have contributed to the landfill.
-An exclusive walker. If she's tired now, she just refuses to walk and makes us carry her.
-Obsessed with her tricycle and Cozy Coupe walking toy. If she sees them she MUST have them.
-Loves her bunny, Charlie. She can open his cage and let him out to play. She also knows where his treats are and gets them out. She can't get a treat out on her own so she gives him the whole bag--he doesn't mind! If you hand her a treat she likes to give them to him though. He's so gentle with her.
-Loves puppets.
-Loves interactive books ("Where's the bone?" where you hide the bone somewhere on each page and "Where's baby?" where you lift up a flap on each page to find the baby, she's particularly fond of the page where baby's feet are behind the cat).
-Knows signs for: milk, all done, baby, good job, hello, bye bye
-Learning new words but it's still unclear if she knows their meaning completely. She knows "mama" (or "mom-mom" sometimes) , "dada", and "hi" (or "hi-ya") for sure. Seems to understand "up" and "down".
-Makes a dog sound when she sees dogs "woof" but sometimes woofs for other animals too. Makes an elephant sound and puts up her arm like an elephant when she sees one.
-Loves to read. Loves to be read to and will "read" through books on her own too.

Look a bird! In the aviary at the zoo.

Swimming in the pool in Bauby & Grandpa's backyard.

Throwing herself back into the water in the pool.

Playing with Uncle Gary & Aunt Cat at Bauby & Grandpa's house.

Getting too big for her crib.

Watching a cow at the farm. She notices pictures of cows everywhere, on milk cartons, painted on the wall at Trader Joe's. She loves cows.

Signing "baby"

Read this book

Riding in her Cozy Coupe at Bauby and Grandpa's house in San Diego.

She always has to see what I'm looking at lately--especially the camera and my cell phone.

10 months!

Didn't I just post a 9 month update? I guess that's what happens when I post over a week late. Time is flying by now. Work is busy, I have a lot of projects going on outside of work, and I'm feeling my productivity slipping out of my grasp. Par for the course in the life of a working mom? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Luckily there are a few things that are going better lately...I have been cooking pretty much all of our meals at home. I've always cooked a lot but I slacked on the meal planning and on nights when I was feeling tired Scott would pick up Poquito Mas on at least a weekly basis. But we've only had it once in the last month. And we really haven't gone out to eat much at all besides that. I'm actually surprised how well we've done...or how well I've done, everyone else is just eating I'm the only one doing additional work. I know you're wondering what in the world this has to do with Lily, or her being 10 months old? Not much I guess...

Back to Lily-land. She's wonderful, happy and full of opinions and ideas about how things should be. Stuffed puppies, kitties and teddy bears are made for kissing, but never mommies and daddies. Food is much more fun when squeezed in between our fingers and sippy cups are better to drink out of upside-down (the sippy cup not the baby). It's also incredibly entertaining to throw yourself back on your back even when you're sitting on the edge of a bed, in a shopping cart or on Daddy's shoulders. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? must absolutely be read at least 15 times a day, sometimes backwards and sometimes upside-down. Peekaboo must also be played only at lightning speed. This is what's important to a 10-month old, or this 10-month old anyway.

Diaper-changes are also probably the worst thing invented. It's much more fun to lift our legs up as high as possible in the air and then slam them onto the changing pad. If they hit mommy on the way down--bonus points!

Cheerios are great any time of day. But Gerber puffs are better. Hard-boiled egg yolks are always last. Black beans are good. Cheese is good. Blueberries with yogurt and mango is delicious, even when Daddy gets it in my neck cracks and eyebrows.

Lily is moving around all over the place. She's very good at walking along things and while holding onto hands, but still a little unsure about walking holding onto one hand and balancing the other. I think walking might still be a little ways off. She's stood a few times on her own without support. Stragely she usually tries to do this in bed with us in the mornings, maybe she's trying to scare us into thinking she might fall off the bed so we wake up and pay more attention to her? Although she did recently stand up without support so she could clap. Clapping is still a big part of her day.

She has to read books every day. She doesn't necessarily need to be read to, she enjoys going through the books on her own, touching the words on the page, and then turning to the next page. She's always been drawn to words in print, she loves when I wear shirts with words on them. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? is her current favorite book. She is especially fond of the last page which shows all of the animals that have been "seen" (a brown bear, a red bird, a green frog, a yellow duck...). Usually when we get home from work and daycare her first activity when I set her down so I can take off my jacket and shoes is to grab that book and read it.

But it's a toss-up whether she's more fond of books or music. She loves to dance. If any music is on she'll dance. This usually means swaying from side to side or just bopping her head. In the play area she often presses a button on one of her toys to get music to start and then continues playing with other toys. She just likes to have the music on in the background. Sometimes we find her dancing when there isn't music playing and wonder what the soundtrack in her head is. We're pretty sure it's Raffi. Raffi is a genius. I don't want to know what life without Raffi is like. Raffi is in the CD player in our car all the time. If Lily is upset in the car and nothing will get her to stop crying, Raffi will. EVERY time. Track 01 starts playing "This old man, he played one, he played one on his old drum..." silence. Immediately the crying stops. Before the words even start. She loves Raffi. And for kids music, it's not that bad. I like Raffi. I find myself singing it quite often actually.

Lily officially knows her first sign! She's so smart. She knows how to say "milk". The sign is squeezing your hand together like you're milking a cow. And now she asks for milk a lot. But now you can ask her, "Lily, do you want some milk?" (while signing milk) and she'll do it back. And in the mornings when I pick her up from her crib she'll sign milk like crazy, both hands lifted up screaming MILK! We think it might just mean "mommy" to her sometimes but milk and mommy usually go together and Lily's not one to turn down food.

Also new this month, Lily is pretty much sleeping through the night. She goes to bed around 7 PM and usually sleeps until 6 or 6:30 AM. Every once in a while she'll still wake up in the middle of the night and cry for a little while. We're trying really hard not to go to her though. Usually she doesn't wake up at all. She moves a lot in her sleep though. She's always moving. She usually sleeps on her stomach now, usually with her knees tucked up underneath her and her butt straight up in the air. But she scoots around her crib during the night. She still sleeps with her little blanket too and a little stuffed bear. That blanket is like Valium. Lily's pecking order goes, blanket, Raffi, mommy...daddy?

Milestones
Learned her first sign! "milk"
Stood without holding onto something 2/3/09
Slept through the night for the first time 2/11/09
Put a Cheerio in her mouth on her own 2/10/09
In a size 4 diaper.
Wearing size 12-18 months.
Lots of babbling and talking.
Lots of pointing.
Waves when you wave at her.
Plays peek-a-book with her blanket & will sometimes try and play peek-a-boo when she doesn't have her blanket by putting her hands up on her head.
First sleepover at Uncle Gary & Aunt Cat's house (2/28/09)
Increased interest in books now. Likes to re-read books over and over again.


It is cold here every once in a while. But not too cold to swing.

Dinner out for Bauby's birthday, Grandpa Jim was on dinner duty.

Daddy on dinner duty, the blueberries won.

An outtake. Books are popular these days.